Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This is just a review of the Blu-Ray "2 Disc Special Edition" since there are plenty of reviews of the movie itself by reviewers far more qualified than I.

The video and sound quality is excellent and I have no complaints about that. But I have to give this 4 stars instead of 5, because, I just don't get some of the "marketing lingo" on this package:

* This version does NOT include a running commentary. None at all (not director, not actors, not cinematographer, nothing). To me this is really odd -- it seems that almost all DVDs released in the last 10 years have had some sort of commentary track. Especially with a Tarantino movie, this seems like something you really WANT to have.* I think this is the only Blu-ray version available right now. It includes the "digital copy" but that is just a lower-res copy of a movie with DRM, nothing wrong with getting that with it, but that is one of the TWO discs in the "Special Edition"* If this is the only one available, and it doesn't include stuff like a commentary, what makes the Marketing people put the "Special Edition" tag on it? I guess because it comes with the low-res copy, see previous item...* Other info on the package is misleading too. It says under "Additional Features:" "The original Inglorious Bastards." This might lead one to conclude that it includes the original movie (and there would be plenty of room for an SD copy of a movie on a Blu-ray disk. This feature is just a 10-minute summary of the movie and discusses it's relation to the new movie. A nice feature worth watching, but I think the way it is named as a feature is misleading.* Minor thing: They put a sticker about "Includes Digital Copy" on the metallic-printed cardboard sleeve.Read more ›

One of the great pleasures of Quentin Tarantino movies is the wonderfully inventive casting that he employs. In PULP FICTION, he revived the career of John Travolta, made Samuel Jackson a star, pushed Bruce Willis into another echelon and even helped get Ving Rhames off to a good start. In JACKIE BROWN, he burnished Pam Grier & Robert Forster's careers. In KILL BILL, he reinvented Uma Thurman and reinvigorated David Carradine. Even in DEATH PROOF, he introduced the world to the amazing stuntwoman Zoe Bell and gave Kurt Russell the kind of part he's missed out on for too long.

And now, wonderfully, in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, he's introduced the American viewer to some stellar European actors, namely Melanie Laurent and particularly Christoph Waltz, now an easy favorite for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Tarantino also frequently tries the patience of his viewers with his rococo dialogue and insistence on constantly reminding us that we're watching a movie. In PULP FICTION, all his "habits" were fresh and new to most viewers (because, really, how many of us had seen RESERVOIR DOGS before we saw FICTION?), but over time, we learned that Tarantino was often just a little too pleased with his own screenwriting and often too pleased with his own directing. In a completely off-the-wall piece like the priceless KILL BILL films, everything worked to form a crazy-quilt whole. In INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, he's too clever for his own good at times.

BASTERDS tells the completely untrue story of how World War II might have ended had a group of bloodthirsty, highly trained American Jews been allowed to infiltrate Nazi occupied France with no mission other than to take Nazi scalps.Read more ›

This movie is really pretty outstanding. The opening scene is intense, frightening, shocking, and appauling all at once, and it sets up the entire film perfectly. I really had no expectations for this movie because I had read so many mixed reviews and none of them really said anything, so I actually thought this was a really good movie although a bit drawn out. The film is artfully done beautifully shot and extremely well acted.

Now here's why you may not like this quite as much as I did and why my wife absolutely HATED it.

What most expected from this movie:1- Gore, action, and more gore and more action2- A story that follows the Basterds as they wreak havoc on Hitler's army3- Maybe a few subtitles as the film does take place in France after all4- Classic Quentin Tarantino comedic dialogue

What the film actually is:1- A character driven story HEAVY on dialogue and other than the last 20 minutes extremely light on action with a couple pretty graphic gory bits tossed in. The last 20 minutes is extremely graphic and violent.2- The story largely follows the young Jewish girl/woman who escapes the opening scene. The Basterds are just kind of there as an afterthought because they are planning to blow up the same theater.3- This film is conservatively speaking about 80% subtitled and spoken either in German or French.4- The only part that is really funny (and it is hilarious) is Brad Pitt "speaking" Italian so poorly that Helen Keller could have picked him out as the American in the crowd.

I've read negative reviews about how this film is "war porn" and diminishes U.S. veterans in some way, but this couldn't be further from the truth.Read more ›